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NEW CANAAN, Conn. Whenever New Canaan and Darien High School teams face off, you can throw away the record books. No matter the sport, both teams almost always bring their A-games to the contest.
Field hockey was no exception Friday afternoon as New Canaan took Dariens nearly four-year unbeaten streak to the limit. It took a pair of fantastic diving saves by Blue Wave keeper Danika Hornick to preserve Dariens lead. Despite extraordinary pressure by the Rams offense in the second half, New Canaan fell 2-0.
I thought it was a great game. We know Darien is the team to beat, and to even have a chance to beat them you have to play your best, New Canaan head coach Erin Gildea said. It was tough the way they scored, but we stayed right in it. Now its a question of believing that you can beat a team like that when youre down.
New Canaan thought it had fended off the powerful Darien offense for the first half, but a late goal would provide all the momentum the Blue Wave needed. Kat Huber raced down the field with less than a minute remaining. She placed a perfect centering pass to Hollis Perticone, who slammed a one-timer past Rams goalie Britt Gardella with 51 seconds left in the half.
The Rams turned up the heat on Darien in the second half, using a dominant five-minute attack to pressure the Wave. New Canaan thought it had finally broken through with three players in perfect position in front of the net. Bea Eppler and Victoria Bruno each got off solid shots, but Hornick lunged to her right to preserve the Darien lead.
Darien added a backbreaking insurance goal just two minutes later. Samm Wright took a point-blank shot that deflected off a New Canaan stick and popped the top of the net.
It was a positive sign to see we had some offense going, Gildea said. We just wore down after they added that second goal, but the girls fought hard. Were young and I think well continue to improve.
New Canaan (4-1-1-2) travels to Stamford on Columbus Day for a 1:30 p.m. game in the third game of a four-game road trip.
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